Talk:Battle of Grand Couronné

Start of battle

@Keith-264: The lead and infobox both say that the battle started on the 4th, but the "Battle" section says that it started on "the night of 3/4 September", so that's contradictory – if it started on the evening of the 3rd, then the lead/infobox are wrong; if it started sometime after midnight of the 4th, then article body is wrong. Please make this consistent. Thanks. —howcheng {chat} 20:30, 4 September 2020 (UTC)

The sources may say it is too close to call - perhaps there was some minor fire at 11:00 pm prior to the main attack. 50.111.54.42 (talk) 20:32, 4 September 2020 (UTC)

At first it read that the battle started on the night of 3 September. If a day is taken to begin at midnight, each one begins at night and ends during the next night, which is why I altered it to the night of 3/4 September, to distinguish it from the night of 2/3 September. Keith-264 (talk) 20:41, 4 September 2020 (UTC)

I've checked Tyng who has "until the attacks against Nancy began on September 3rd" p. 324. p. 314 and Rupprecht "on the night of September 3rd, launched a new attack" p. 325 p. 315. Keith-264 (talk) 21:00, 4 September 2020 (UTC)

As you can see above, we have this listed on WP:Selected anniversaries/September 4. I'm just trying to find the right day to feature it, and we want to be accurate for the Main Page. So per your latest research, the 3rd seems to be the correct day. —howcheng {chat} 01:45, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

• Zuber, T., ed. (2014). The First Battle of the First World War: Alsace-Lorraine (cond. trans. ed. Deuringer, K. Die Schlacht in Lothringen und in den Vogesen 1914 die Feuertaufe der Bayerischen Armee. 2 Ereignisse nach dem 22. August [The Battle in Lorraine and the Vosges 1914: The Baptism of Fire of the Bavarian Army (II) Events to 22 August] Bayerische Kriegsarchiv, München, 1929 ed.). Stroud: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-6086-4.

"The enemy outposts were driven back and they largely abandoned the terrain that the attack on on the evening of 4 September initially had to cross. On 3 and 4 September III Bavarian Corps was able to advance the front line, both (sic) in order to move the artillery forward and to establish the conditions for the main attack." p. 330 "The fighting on the night of 2/3 September had shown that a renewed attack on the night of 3/4 September required more thorough preparation and it was postponed. But reports received on 4 September in turn made it appear that further delay was not justified." p. 331

• Herwig, H. (2009). The Marne, 1914: The Opening of World War I and the Battle that Changed the World. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-6671-1.

"The assault on the Grand Couronné began a day ahead of schedule, in the heavy, humid night of 3–4 September." p. 210

• Boff, J. (2018). Haig's Enemy: Crown Prince Rupprecht and Germany's War on the Western Front (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-967046-8.

"...and organise an attack on the Grand Couronné for the night of 4/5 September." p. 28

• I'm starting to wish that I hadn't poked my bugle in now. Regards Keith-264 (talk) 06:08, 5 September 2020 (UTC)
  • Yeah, that's not surprising that sources will differ. For my purposes, the solution is easy enough. I'll just move its OTD appearance to 13 September instead, as there is no disagreement as to when it ended. It will be at least a year before it makes another appearance on the Main Page, so that should give you plenty of time to fix the article. Thanks. —howcheng {chat} 20:08, 5 September 2020 (UTC)

See you next year. ;O) Keith-264 (talk) 20:39, 5 September 2020 (UTC)